Let’s get this out of the way first: the court design at the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament is awful, atrocious, distracting and ridiculous. The floor in Kansas City, Missouri, was designed through a partnership with “Undefeated Inc.” which bills itself as an “authentic lifestyle brand and sneaker store inspired by sports, art, music and street culture.”
And this is what they came up with, a basketball court that looks like a wildly bad game of tic-tac-toe. It makes Oregon’s court look normal.
It’s unclear what the Big 12 and this brand were going for here, but it’s not good. It pales in comparison to the colorful design at the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina.
But reader, I’m asking you to ignore this appalling hardwood design for a moment.
Because Addy Brown deserves better.
She made the court look as good as it possibly could on Thursday evening by absolutely lighting up Arizona State for 41 points in a 98-86 second-round victory for Iowa State.
It was a career-best scoring outing for the 6-foot-2 sophomore forward from Derby, Kansas, which is about three hours southwest of Kansas City. In addition to her boatload of points — which she accumulated on 13-of-23 shooting from the floor, 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point land and 10-of-11 from the free throw line — Brown also had six rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
Simply put, she was awesome, and carried the Cyclones to a crucial win.
It was a victory that was much-needed for Iowa State, which ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme had identified as a bubble team heading into this week of Power 4 conference tournaments. The win boosts Iowa State’s chances of securing a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Brown’s performance was a record for a preliminary round in the Big 12 Tournament, the third-most points ever scored in it, and tied for the most points scored by an Iowa State player since 1984.
Longtime Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly summed up Brown’s signature outing in a short but perfect way: “Not bad for a second-team all-conference player.”
Brown has been underrated and overlooked for a majority of the season. She’s one of just three players in the nation this year averaging at least 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game.
“Tonight just happened to be my night,” Brown said.
Her performance against Arizona State is further proof that Iowa State is much more than simply Audi Crooks — the owner of the other most recent 40-point outing by a Cyclone, when she wowed Maryland in the NCAA Tournament last season.
What’s certain is that the duo of Crooks and Brown will be formidable, and fun to watch, for years to come — no matter what the court looks like.
